Individualized Preparation for Optimal Athletic Performance

Euro 2012: Interesting Stats

The UEFA European Championships finished on Sunday with another win for Spain. It is Spain’s 3rd consecutive major tournament win which makes them a dynasty. People are even suggesting that they are quite possibly the best team ever . I came across an article on BBC Sport that has stats about the tournament that I thought you may find interesting if a soccer fan. One of the glaring stats in my opinion is that Spain average over 600+ passes a game! Talk about the execution of their tactics and skill!

Spain after the victory

The stats courtesy of BBC Sport

How Euro 2012 added up for Spain

Spain are the first European side to win three consecutive major tournaments – Euro 2008, the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012.

Spain are unbeaten in their last 12 European Championship final matches – nine wins, three draws – a competition record.

Vicente del Bosque’s side have not conceded a goal in their last five European Championship matches, a new competition record.

Spain averaged 626.3 passes per match, more than any other team at Euro 2012 (the Republic of Ireland were 16th with 221.3).

They averaged 60.03% possession per fixture, again more than any other side in the competition (again the Republic of Ireland were lowest, with 39.52%).

Juan Mata is the fastest substitute to score at Euro 2012 – one minute and 14 seconds after coming on to the pitch.

Xavi has assisted a goal for Fernando Torres in both the 2008 and 2012 finals.

Fernando Torres is the first player to score in two European Championship finals.

Spain are only the third team to have scored twice before half-time in a European Championship final – Italy in 1968 and Czechoslovakia in 1976 were the previous two occasions.

The only team other to score three or more goals in a European Championship final was West Germany v Soviet Union in 1972 (3-0).

Italy’s Antonio Cassano has now been substituted eight times at the European Championship finals after being named in the starting line-up, breaking the tournament record he shared with Dennis Bergkamp and Mario Gomez.

This was the second World Cup or European Championship final in which both teams were captained by a goalkeeper. The other one was the 1934 World Cup final between Italy (Giampiero Combi) and Czechoslovakia (Franta Planicka).